[Lace Watkins]

https://laceonrace.com/2021/01/10/no-progressive-white-christians-youre-not-off-the-hook/

 

No, Progressive white Christians. You’re not off the hook.

Discussion

[Rebecca McClinton]

If I were engaged in a church I would likely be the crunchy Birkenstock wearing, BLM flag flying progressive Christian who talks well but is fragile. My tendencies are there…people pleasing, the desire to be liked, and not wanting people to be mad at me, love without accountability. I’ve grown, but I’ve certainly not arrived and will continue to work.

While I may not be engaged in faith based activities, all of my nuclear and extended family on my side of the family is. While I have discussed matters of racial and social justice with them (to the point they say they feel there’s nothing they can talk with me about anymore…either a compliment that I’m doing things right, or maybe proof that I’m not doing a very good job staying in the car with them), I’ve not asked about the dynamics of the structure of how these topics are addressed at their church.

I’ve defaulted to feeling like it’s not my lane since I’m not involved, but I’m thinking that’s me copping out and letting my previous church slosh take over instead of engaging with integrity. Lace asks “what are you going to do?” and I that’s the work I must do…handle my church slosh better so I can ask those questions with confidence and when told that’s not my lane state that it’s my responsibility to address the systemic racism in all the systems I encounter not just the ones I’m most actively engaged in. If I don’t ask them those questions, who is?

(cross posted to facebook)

[Laura Berwick]

Like @rebecca , I’m no longer a member of a church. So in some ways I could find it easy to let this post slip through my fingers and say there was nothing for me to catch hold of. But…

I AM a member of several communities. All of my chosen communities are pretty liberal. The community I was born into was… is… not. The community I was born into is white. My chosen communities are… predominantly white. I don’t want to erase or elide the presence of people of color and Black people in my life, but… because of various choices and unchoices, this is where I am. Amid mostly liberal, mostly white folks.

Who like me might cheer the OP on while also disclaiming any area to really get a handhold, because most of us don’t regularly attend a religious service.

This is my clarion call to NOT distance. To see myself, even in the (presumably former?) conservatism of the OP. So what am I going to do?

Well, I am no longer silent. And it’s been remarkable who has come out of the woodwork to praise vs condemn me. I also need to spread this question out to those who praise: What are you going to do? Or… better… “What are WE going to do?”

Financial engagement here and in other areas. (My stimulus payment is currently burning a hole in my hot little bank account.)

Contacting my representatives. This is one I’ve fallen behind on. And attending informative sessions by Black-led organizations in my (very white) city of residence.

I was reminded recently that there is ALWAYS more to do, but I have to do my own leg work to find it. No one is going to gift wrap it up and drop it in my lap.

These are things I can do and continue to do, and none of them are one and done. That’s something I love about the way Lace phrased her question. As I was quoting/remembering it here, I was writing “What will you do?” but it didn’t sound quite right, so I went back and looked it up. “Will” is nicely future tense and single-point. “Going to” feels more immediate, more ongoing process, less “some day” more “right now and forever.” That’s important.

[Deleted User]

I was brought up catholic but I’ve never been a church goer. I’m afraid I’ve found it outdated and problematic for quite some time. Even more recently I’ve even questioned my spirituality.

..

But I know that’s not what you asked, you asked, what am I going to do?

..

I can only think of having an impact in the places of where I’m part of a wider community, which are very few. I’m hoping to volunteer very soon and so I will be looking for these power structures and challenging them where I encounter them.

[Emily Holzknecht]

It would be easy to distance and say “I don’t belong to a church”…but I already had success in one way with getting a church to line its practices up better with what it says its values are and I wasn’t a member of that church when I did it, so I already know it can be done, and that I can do it. No excuses.

Additionally, Lace has set an example for us as to one way action could look in terms of doing something about racism in white progressive Christian circles when she inquired about the Good Trouble masks and followed through on that inquiry, and some of us engaged in that as well.

My best “in” currently when it comes to progressive churches is with the people I know who are leaders in their progressive churches. We already have a relationship that can be the foundation for discussions to occur, for asking good hard questions and navigating those conversations together with the North Star as a guide.

I went and read the responses to Lace’s comment on the original post on Chris Kratzer’s feed, few that they were. 75 comments on the OP when I looked and 3 people responding to Lace, 2 if you don’t include our own Kathy. I see myself in the white woman who responded to Lace in what she probably thought was agreement and was all about herself as a victim trauma and brainwashing when I focus on where I’ve come from and the work I’ve already done and don’t pivot to what I’m going to do now to lessen and mitigate harm to Black and brown people perpetuated by white people like me and by white supremacy now that I’m finally taking responsibility for myself the way I should have done at the beginning of my adulthood rather than waiting until now and when I don’t take responsibility for all those years it took for me to begin to grow up. I see myself in the other white woman who was very condescending in her appearance of agreement. She could have said all the same things in a different way that would be seeing eye to eye instead of positioning herself as Lace’s teacher. I have know-it-all tendencies that I have to keep in check because when it comes to racial justice, I will never “know it all” and I certainly will never know more than Black people themselves. I see myself in both of these women when I forget to turn around and look at myself and locate myself in the oppressor.

How many likes would Chris Kratzer’s post have if he had started the way he did and at the end of it had a big AND and then the finger was pointed at progressive churches too? Would he have lost followers? Lost people interested in buying his book? That would be an actual risk to his social capital.

[Miela Gruber]

I’ve had a louder voice and there are a few others in my church that have actively pushed for more action and deeper work on interior work within the congregation on racism. And we are moving. Our church actively supported and showed up with BLM this year, something only a couple of us had done in the previous 5-7 years. They now have partnered with an organization that works on supporting movements that come directly out of our community in Hartford, and have actively worked hand in hand with a black church in Hartford to push for a demand that the citizen review board on police brutality cases be given some teeth, which it has. We also have hired two people to do a year long training of “racial justice activation” which requires a minimum commitment of 70 hours plus homework and reflection. But I think we still struggle with the obfuscation of the “moderate” and the cult of gradual, by which liberals kill progress, and I need to keep calling that out all the time. But they have begun the process of interrogating everything. I really appreciate the call out of resource hoarding in the sense of worry that they’ll lose people. As usual, I ignored the economic privilege of that and didn’t have the words to call that what it is. I will be able to call that out more effectively now as resource hoarding. My own goal is to push our church to actively and reliably show up for two goals 1. Abolition and 2. Changing the way education is funded to statewide. They’re sort of halfway there. My engagement will be to go all the way there. Quakers got there, and I’ve been missing some of the friends clarity on that issue in my church. But I am really determined to keep living into that and saying it as the only ethical stance in my current church.

[Kelsi Watters]

<div>Cross posted from Facebook. A few observations. Last time I looked at Chris’s post, maybe one or two people out of all who were quick to agree with his commentary, actually answered your queries.</div><div>Pivoting to me: I recognize that basically all white churches are problematic in many of the ways you describe which is partially why I myself and feeling stuck about committing to a particular faith community. I guess that’s where I fall short when it comes to challenging bigger systems in faith communities and institutions, because I’m not currently an active member of the congregation. The church I currently attend when work allows is a Catholic church whose members are predominantly African-American, with some Hispanic, Caucasian and other members with the African Diaspora. So if I’m challenging systems right now, it would mainly be the hospital where I work and healthcare institutions in general, as well as the practice of chaplaincy.</div><div>The other day I wrote an article on Facebook that was a letter to White Christians. But whose ears is it going to reach? And I’m not sure that’s an avenue of concrete change.</div><div>So, how can I exert bravery and be part of making the systemic changes that I want to see? What am I going to do? For starters, I’m going to ask questions. For example, if I become part of the faith community that say they support BLM and LGBTQ plus, my first questions will be: what does that support look like? How many black, brown and LGBTQ members are in your congregation, on your committees, in Visible leader ship positions? Are they being given a voice in the leader ship of the congregation? I may just have to observe that for myself. Then I would ask any black, brown and LGBTQ members if they felt they were being given a voice and heard. The challenge to faith leaders and congregations is to turn their nice abstract ideals of an all inclusive community into concrete action steps, and how about actually including in your grand plans the voices of the people you say you want to include? If you want visible leadership positions? Are they being given a voice in the leadership of the congregation? I may just have to observe that for myself. Then I would ask any black, brown and LGBTQ members if they felt they were being given a voice and heard. The challenge to face leaders and congregations is to turn their nice abstract ideals of an all inclusive community into concrete action steps, and how about actually including in your grand plans the voices of the people you say you want to include? If you want To be more inclusive to black and brown members, to practice equity and mitigate harm, then let’s take a look at how many black and brown faces are on your leader ship team. Talk to those who are not on the leadership team as well. These are just some starting thoughts.</div>

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